Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

It was a very good spring

Today is the Yankees’ final day of Spring Training in Tampa for 2008, and for me personally, this is the end of my tour of duty. I’ll have my hands full this morning cleaning out seven weeks of junk from my apartment, turning in my keys and then heading over to the ballpark to watch one final Grapefruit League game before catching a flight home to New York.

This afternoon we get to bid farewell to Legends Field and say hello to "The Boss," George M. Steinbrenner Field. When we left the ballpark on Wednesday, the Yankees were dismantling the signage atop the left field scoreboard and I got a sneak peek at the new lettering. It looks the same as the previous, which is how you’d want it. George M. Steinbrenner will be large and in charge looming over the Yankees.

Since this is the last day of camp for me (don’t tell that to the players, they’ve got three more games), here are my final numbers for the spring:

177 – Stories filed for MLB.com0 – Stories written exclusively about Carl Pavano6 – Days of camp missed4 – Number of days missed spent chasing Roger Clemens around Washington1 – Number of days missed spent at Busch Gardens6 – Number of pitches Billy Crystal saw at the plate2 – Number of words it took to set Robin Williams off on a hilarious rant1 – Laptops destroyed and sent back to New York for repair
37 – Number of Florida Lottery tickets purchased0 – Jackpots won67 – Average distance, in feet, of balls hit by Joe Girardi’s six year old son, Dante11 – Estimated number of years before Dante Girardi is profiled as a big league prospect30 – Minutes spent waiting for a table at Flemings Steakhouse with Joe Girardi0 – Minutes spent waiting for a table at Donatello with Hideki Matsui1,894 – Miles put on my rental car, a red 2007 Ford Mustang1,510 – Miles, round trip, between Legends Field and Virginia Tech University32 – Minutes between leaving Legends Field and being in the air on the Yankee team charter plane4 – Days until Opening Day!

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I don’t think Mussina was slated for the #3 spot, he was constantly being mentioned as the #4 pitcher. Like I said, it would be a mistake to put a pitcher in the middle of your rotation. We saw how bad, and inconsistent he can really be after his last start expect to see more of the same during the season.

joe,

As I stated in a couple of my pervious posts, the Yanks could use Ohlendorf as the long reliever as long as he can keep his velocity for 1-3 innings. If he can do that he could prove to be a much more viable solution than Igawa, Rasner or Karstens.

I am hoping that Giradi’s made the right decision keeping Bruney over Patterson. I see no problem with Joba in the pen. You have a dooms day feeling that our pen will be a complete failure. Joba can come in to relieve in the 7th if necessary, the Joba rules are gone. Also Moose was slated weeks ago to be #3 and with Andy’s back problems he was moved up. I don’t think it will be a problem, Once the younguns acclimate we’ll be Ok. (I hope) We’ll just have to wait and see, Right now the whole pitching staff is questionable.. possibly with the exception of Wang ..???
“GO YANKEES”

Hey guys, should have mentioned this earlier in the week, but I went on a certain person’s blog, and he had a rather lenghty, yet ver entertaining temper tantrum because a troll went on his site. It was almost as hysterical as sentinel’s a few months ago. I must admit it has been the only post that ******* has ever had on his blog so congratulations to him. Very hilarious.

Hey guys, I should have mentioned this earlier, but earlier in the week I went on certain blog because I needed a good laugh, and gues what I got it. He posted a rather lengthy, ludicrous tirade against a troll who went on his site. It was really hilarious, busted a gut laughing at that ******* as he humiliated himself on his own blog. I must admit it was rather entertaining, the one post he has ever had that was ever interesting. **** at that *******. His rant was almost as good as the one sentinel had months ago.

First of all, Happy Birthday chaz!!!!!! How old are you? Five ( just kidding). Secondly, I agree with you about the pen, all anyone has to do is look at who is in it.Just wondering, how the heck can Igawa dominate anyone, when he doesn’t have that type of stuff. Obviously,he hasn’t progressed, and this is the best he will ever get ( again, I love being right!!!! ). I wonder which one of the Stooges left the banana peel on the mound for Karstens to slip on, I want to personally thank him, personally I think the ol’ fingers in the eyes would have been more hilarious. Outside of Chamberlain, and Rivera the rest of the pen scares me. I still haven’t bought into Farnsworth, I don’t trust Hawkins, Ohlendorf lacks experience, Patterson hasn’t pitched above AA having pitched mostly in the Independent Leagues. Bruney, and Britton are better at lifting the ol’ fork to their mouths than they are pitching. I don’t want to see broken down relics from past Yankee teams on this team again, that’s not the answer. In addition, the starting rotation is still a little questionable.

I do have to disagree with you a little about the Yanks not having a viable option. If J. Brent Cox, Humberto Sanchez, Allan Horne, Marquez or Steve White all have good seasons in the minors, expect to see them in some type of role before the end of the season.

With all that being said, does anyone feel that Chamberlain is being wasted as a setup man rather than a starter? After all this pen is more likely going to blow leads rather than hold them before the game gets to the 7th or 8th innings.

Today is my birthday, and THIS is what Igawa gives me? Doesn’t he know that I am the reason why the Yankees even play baseball anymore? Did he not get the memo that he should dominate the opposition and give me a clear cut choice for long man? Someone get him on the phone and tell him to take his carcass back to Japan.

I think Patterson has earned a look @ long-man. I’m not a stats guy but, his numbers look better then most. I’m pulling a “Joe Torre” right now and am scratching my head w/ a clueless look-I don’t understand cutting Woodward and keeping Betemit like the rest of you. Maybe Girardi doesn’t have as much control of this team as we think.

I would rather see the likes of Karstens, Rasner, and Igawa get run over by a bus rather than seeing theThree Stooges on this roster.

Again, I wouldn’t be surprised to see guys like Horne, Marquez, and Sanchez in the pen possibly before the All-Star break. I would be surprised to see Melancon on the roster this season as he is recovering from TJ surgery and only has about 7 2/3 IP in the minors for his career so far, makes absolutely no sense to rush him.

Traber, Ohlendorf, Bruney and Patterson (only 1 hit alloowed), have all had better springs than Karstans (injured), Rasner (? could make Roster as blow out innings eater_ and Igawa (walk, K or gopher ball). Going with 3 of those 4 would seem preferable (but if Girardi is stobborn about a long reliever, it will be 2 of 4 plus Rasner; Igawa walks too many).

Final decisions may depend on Pettitte Sunday, who could start season in DL.

But it is a Marathon and not a sprint. Before it is over, Albaledjo, Britton could be in the mix. Plus recoverees from TJ surgery Sanchez and Melencon. As well as never yet above AA, Horne, Maqrquez and McCutchen. And, surely, otrhers aas well.

Yanks are loaded with young pitching prospects. The Opening Day Roster will not be the Post Season Playoff Roster.

Should be great fun “Championship Season” in the Drive for “27”

Everything Girardi has shown so far has been a positive, from affect to conditioning.

And his BP management has to be a BIG improvement over the “Sainted” Torre, who was clueless in that regard.

And, of course, the initial full season progress of “Generation Trey,” the probable “final season contributions of Pettitte and Mussina, and whether Wang get back on 19 win, or something like it, beam will all be big factors in how ths plays out.

If things were decided by “how they look on paper,” they wouldn’t play the 162 game Championship Season plus October Playoffs.

Hi to everybody, I hope that this season will be our season, Its time to recover world series cup. This is the year of the Bombers, I am sure we will WIN the division east and the world series, because is the last season of the Yankees Stadium, and win there will be a great honor, don´t you think that. I wish all players good luck and in three days all of us (THEIR FANS) will appreciate the beginning of the season and will enojoy to watch good games from the best team of the world…NEW YORK YANKEES.
Dalhir, Panama, Rep. of Panama.

I just got some good news, well kind of. I just heard that Karstens hurt himself in today’s game. That’s not the good news, as I don’t want to see anyone getting hurt, the good news is that it will keep him from taking the hill anytime soon, not that had any chance of making the roster. Igawa did himself no favors today in the competition for the long reliever role, as it allows Rasner back in the picture.

As for the rest of the pen, I don’t think Patterson will be in it when the season starts, as he has no experience above AA having spent most of his career in the Independent League. He’s going to have to go back to the minors to get himself experience with more IP. He’s had a good ST, but I don’t want to see him blow up after the start of the season taking this team down with him. If anything, this team should try Ohlendorf as the long reliever, having him pitch 2-3 innings at a time, he should be able to maintain that velocity for that time easily. He’s definitely a better option than Igawa or Rasner.

The only reason Proctor was struggling was because Torre overused him early last season after overusing him the entire season before. Proctor was not the only pitcher struggling at the time nor was he the worst pitcher in the pen. He turned his season around only after getting away from Torre, and had a solid pen backing him, something the Yanks didn’t have last season. So that pen was full of “arsonists” at the time. Proctor is having a solid ST with the Dodgers with 1 SV 1.93 ERA 9 Ks in 9 IP.

Like I said it’s never a good idea to trade a relief pitcher for a bench player especially one who can barely hit. Last season proved that as the pen continued to struggle after trading Proctor, and didn’t have a reliable pitcher to go to, while Proctor cruised to the end of the seasson with the Dodgers.

Proctor was traded to strengthen the bench last seasson, unfortunately, it was for Betemit. It’s a mistake for any team to trade something like a reliever for a part time player like Betemit who really hasn’t done much for this team, and remains an unproductive hitter. Once again, he takes the collar in a game. He is only a bench player, but if this team loses players like Jeter, A-Rod, or Cano to injuries expect to see the likes of him replacing them as
a starter. Who the heck is comforted by the fact a hitter who will struggle to hit .220 will be possibly replacing those guys in the lineup. He has never really been worth the price the Yanks paid to get him. Yanks traded away Clippard for a player who would hopefully strengthen the pen. That hasn’t happened either. Two trades nothing to show for it.

Losing Karstens is no big deal, he already pitched himself off the roster, as he went from El Stinko to El Putrid. With any luck we won’t see him any time in the near future.

Guys like Steve White, Alan Horne, Humberto Sanchez, and Marquez, and Cox better have good seasons, chances are they will get called up at some point in the season.

Hey, Ayton – It might make you feel better that SI has the Bombers winning the AL East by 2 games over Boston. I don’t agree with their prediction of an ALCS loss to Detroit. I think that the Yankee’s young pitching artillery will have matured and silence the Detroit bats.

The ghosts in Yankee Stadium will not let this team lose a playoff series. They’re going out in style before they move across the street!

I think Matsui got married right before the season, [mainly] to avoid all the publicity…

It is amazing that Hideki was able to travel to New York for the wedding, and the whole event was kept so secret…especially, considering the many members of the Japanese media that follow his every move!

This is somewhat of an important outing for Igawa to show that he is for real, and gain the trust and confidence from fans. He most likely has won the long reliever role simply by outpitching ( like that was hard to do ) Rasner, and Karstens who are pretty much out of the picture, no surprise there. I never thought Karstens ever had a shot with the Yanks anyway, just wasn’t going to happen.

So i was watching We Hate Yankees Tonight…i mean baseball tonight…and of course the ****** John Kruk says that the Yankees will finish 3’rd behind the Blue Jays…i hate them all on that show, they should all just wear Red Sox stuff

The Yankees start their regular season journey to their 27th World Champinship this upcoming Monday [at The Stadium vs. the Blue Jays]…

As this journey begins, Bryan, I look forward to your “Posts” and “Comments”, here at “Bombers Beat” throughout the 2008 season, as well as, viewing the comments of the many passionate Yankee and Baseball fans who post here regularly. I, also, look forward to offering my own comments, thoughts, and opinions on a regular basis throughout the season…So, it should be fun !!!

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